Survivor’s Notebook #7
Safer Surfing for Survival
Scott McNealy co-founder of Sun Microsystems once said, “You have no privacy. Get over it” That is definitely a
true statement; there are gigantic databases all over the world with data on any minutiae that may have been
recorded from many diverse sources which can then be correlated by high power computers to produce a pretty
good picture of you as an individual if anyone should wish to. This data is collected from public records and news
reports as well as from hacking into and the purchasing outright of information that should be private. This data
about you can also come from spybots and Trojans on your very own personal computer. So it makes really good
sense to minimize your exposure with good computer security practices. Here are some quick and simple steps you
can take to better protect your important data and make your everyday surfing safer.
First and foremost use good quality anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners and keep them updated. I highly
recommend using the automatic update option. From time to time I have found malware of some sort immediately
after receiving an update. It is also essential to have a firewall; most operating systems come with built in firewalls
so make sure it is enabled. For extra protection do some homework on the many options and settings to make your
firewall even more secure. Follow recommendations for these products from well known publications like PC
Magazine; don’t download a scanner that you happened across on a pop-up ad, it may well be a very dangerous
piece of malware in disguise.
Also pay attention to operating system security settings and browser security settings, especially if you use
Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.mspx
Keep in mind that viruses, spybots and other malware are written far more often for Microsoft products. There are
alternatives to Microsoft such as the FireFox browser http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
I use the Firefox browser because it has more options to enhance security, such as the ability to individually
examine and manage cookies, the option to automatically clean up private data when closing browser or whenever
you wish. It also has the ability to eliminate what is known as the “HTTP referer” which is a little piece of information
a browser passes on to the next website it visits, reveling where it was last and possibly other little tid-bits of info.
Anything that is stored on a computer that is connected to the internet is susceptible to data harvesting. Anything
you posted to an on-line message board or forum, or an email you sent, or a form you filled out, may well still exist
somewhere on the internet even after the post or message seemingly is gone. It will live a very long time in the
unthinkably large database of Google, it may live a long time on a back-up tape in some obscure data center. It
may even attain near immortality in the “way back machine”, a database that archives web pages. http://www.
archive.org/index.php
I do not recommend leaving your computer up and running on the internet 24/7 unless you have a very good
reason to do so. The reason is that it gives hackers a lot of time to crack into your system in the dead of night, a
time you will not notice unusual activity on the hard drives or the network. Not only can he steal your data, he can
leave a back door to return later he may also set your computer up as a member of his zombie army; a place to
send spam from and to launch other attacks.
Surf anonymously, that will help keep those who do not have a need to know, out of your affairs. Just remember
that ‘somebody’ will know who you are, and that ‘somebody’ is the anonymity provider or proxy
http://www.cexx.org/anony.htm http://www.computerbytesman.com/anon/index.htm
http://www.anonymizer.com/consumer/products/anonymous_surfing/
If you use the search engines like Google (who doesn’t) be aware that the terms you used to conduct the search
are passed on to the website you visit when you click on the links on the search results. If you do not want to pass
this info on, you can simply copy and paste the links into your navigation bar instead of clicking on them.
Finally, use strong passwords and change them periodically. It’s a pain, but once your password is cracked you no
longer have any security, especially if you login with administrator privileges which is also a bad practice.
Any password can be cracked by brute force methods but the stronger the password, the longer it takes.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx
http://www.linux.com/articles/28057 https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
Here are some links to help you check on your personal computer security.
http://www.tom-cat.com/security.html Tons of good computer security information.
http://whacker7.hackerwhacker.com/index.php Free tools and Utilities.
http://www.junkbusters.com/cgi-bin/privacy This site will tell you if your browser is giving out too much information.
http://www.grc.com Click on the services tab and select Shields Up! to give your system a security check up.
Check out all the other good security info.
http://navigators.com/cgi-bin/navigators/persona.pl This page will tell you about your internet "persona" and check
out other good information.
If you use a wireless LAN at home or elsewhere you are very vulnerable if it is not secured tightly, do the homework
to get this done otherwise people will be using your internet connection free, stealing your information, and
spoofing your identity at the same time. Check this out.
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelesssecurity/tp/wifisecurity.htm
Visit http://www.set2survive.com/s2s_Tech_Links.html for more links.
Tech Links
© Copyright 2008 Tim Thomas – all rights reserved
Safer Surfing for Survival
Scott McNealy co-founder of Sun Microsystems once said, “You have no privacy. Get over it” That is definitely a
true statement; there are gigantic databases all over the world with data on any minutiae that may have been
recorded from many diverse sources which can then be correlated by high power computers to produce a pretty
good picture of you as an individual if anyone should wish to. This data is collected from public records and news
reports as well as from hacking into and the purchasing outright of information that should be private. This data
about you can also come from spybots and Trojans on your very own personal computer. So it makes really good
sense to minimize your exposure with good computer security practices. Here are some quick and simple steps you
can take to better protect your important data and make your everyday surfing safer.
First and foremost use good quality anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners and keep them updated. I highly
recommend using the automatic update option. From time to time I have found malware of some sort immediately
after receiving an update. It is also essential to have a firewall; most operating systems come with built in firewalls
so make sure it is enabled. For extra protection do some homework on the many options and settings to make your
firewall even more secure. Follow recommendations for these products from well known publications like PC
Magazine; don’t download a scanner that you happened across on a pop-up ad, it may well be a very dangerous
piece of malware in disguise.
Also pay attention to operating system security settings and browser security settings, especially if you use
Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.mspx
Keep in mind that viruses, spybots and other malware are written far more often for Microsoft products. There are
alternatives to Microsoft such as the FireFox browser http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
I use the Firefox browser because it has more options to enhance security, such as the ability to individually
examine and manage cookies, the option to automatically clean up private data when closing browser or whenever
you wish. It also has the ability to eliminate what is known as the “HTTP referer” which is a little piece of information
a browser passes on to the next website it visits, reveling where it was last and possibly other little tid-bits of info.
Anything that is stored on a computer that is connected to the internet is susceptible to data harvesting. Anything
you posted to an on-line message board or forum, or an email you sent, or a form you filled out, may well still exist
somewhere on the internet even after the post or message seemingly is gone. It will live a very long time in the
unthinkably large database of Google, it may live a long time on a back-up tape in some obscure data center. It
may even attain near immortality in the “way back machine”, a database that archives web pages. http://www.
archive.org/index.php
I do not recommend leaving your computer up and running on the internet 24/7 unless you have a very good
reason to do so. The reason is that it gives hackers a lot of time to crack into your system in the dead of night, a
time you will not notice unusual activity on the hard drives or the network. Not only can he steal your data, he can
leave a back door to return later he may also set your computer up as a member of his zombie army; a place to
send spam from and to launch other attacks.
Surf anonymously, that will help keep those who do not have a need to know, out of your affairs. Just remember
that ‘somebody’ will know who you are, and that ‘somebody’ is the anonymity provider or proxy
http://www.cexx.org/anony.htm http://www.computerbytesman.com/anon/index.htm
http://www.anonymizer.com/consumer/products/anonymous_surfing/
If you use the search engines like Google (who doesn’t) be aware that the terms you used to conduct the search
are passed on to the website you visit when you click on the links on the search results. If you do not want to pass
this info on, you can simply copy and paste the links into your navigation bar instead of clicking on them.
Finally, use strong passwords and change them periodically. It’s a pain, but once your password is cracked you no
longer have any security, especially if you login with administrator privileges which is also a bad practice.
Any password can be cracked by brute force methods but the stronger the password, the longer it takes.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx
http://www.linux.com/articles/28057 https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
Here are some links to help you check on your personal computer security.
http://www.tom-cat.com/security.html Tons of good computer security information.
http://whacker7.hackerwhacker.com/index.php Free tools and Utilities.
http://www.junkbusters.com/cgi-bin/privacy This site will tell you if your browser is giving out too much information.
http://www.grc.com Click on the services tab and select Shields Up! to give your system a security check up.
Check out all the other good security info.
http://navigators.com/cgi-bin/navigators/persona.pl This page will tell you about your internet "persona" and check
out other good information.
If you use a wireless LAN at home or elsewhere you are very vulnerable if it is not secured tightly, do the homework
to get this done otherwise people will be using your internet connection free, stealing your information, and
spoofing your identity at the same time. Check this out.
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelesssecurity/tp/wifisecurity.htm
Visit http://www.set2survive.com/s2s_Tech_Links.html for more links.
Tech Links
© Copyright 2008 Tim Thomas – all rights reserved
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